This invention relates generally to the field of audio/video entertainment, and more particularly to an automobile audio-video theater system.
Audio and video entertainment has been a part of our lives for as long as anyone can remember, and live performances even longer still. First, issued a patent in 1847, was the radio to stun and amaze people by recreating live and recorded broadcasted entertainment, improved upon by the 1920 patent of the FM Radio Receiver. Later, patented in 1930, the television was introduced and our world changed forever. These two inventions play vital roles in most peoples lives everyday and are pioneers of the technological revolution in which we live today—in fact, life would not be as it is if the radio and television didn't exist. Later, patented in 1934, the automobile radio was introduced. In time, the drive-in theater presented a parking setup with the view of a giant motion picture projected image.
In recent years automobile audio manufacturers have improved auto stereo entertainment and provide a diverse line of digital audio equipment. This trend began in the early 1980s and continues to progress. By the mid-1980s the home audio industry introduced the compact disc player, which provided excellent audio quality by an unbelievably clear, crisp digital audio source and subsequently replaced the phonograph (derived from the gramophone patented in 1887, and cassette deck, derived from the audio tape recording device, patented in 1944) as a regular means of enjoying audio entertainment. In 1956 the computer memory device received a patent, which later lead to a means for audio and video computer convergence, which now is a vital primary element of the process for enhancing and combining automobile audio and video entertainment. Also by the mid-1980s, after a brief bout with the Floppy Disc and laser video player, the video cassette recorder, deriving from the 1960 patent of the videotape recorder, had dominated the home video entertainment arena and the VCR was in full swing as the most demanded, highest quality component of home video entertainment.
Shortly thereafter we witnessed the introduction of an even better VCR, the HiFi VCR, which provided enhanced quality in pre-recorded, home video entertainment with superb audio, as well as a means for recording and playing high quality audio entertainment. This changed television forever; however, the TV had seen much progress and success on its own and had already evolved into a “Digital” component. The digital TV can be found in a variety of styles and sizes, from the palm sized hand-held type to a six story giant. A HiFi VCR and digital TV proved to be vital necessities for a great home theater system, while in the meantime the drive-in theater had become less appealing to the average entertainment-seeker and faded into the past as if it were a dinosaur. With no remorse, the home theater era has not missed a beat. Undoubtedly this technology is partly responsible for the decline of the drive-in theater.
By the year 2000, the digital home theater system manufacturers had introduced digital video disc technology, which provides the best yet quality in audio/video entertainment by means of digital video discs and a digital video disc player (reader). The digital TV and DVD player are primary components within a premier home theater entertainment system.
Also by the turn of the century, just as the television had changed the world, the personal computer, another product of the technological revolution, has also made our world a different place, while bringing about the information age. Among its thousands of functions the PC is also capable of receiving and encoding “streaming” audio/video entertainment information over a telephone line or reproduction from a disc and is a superb tool for performing AudioNideo PC convergence. This also provides versatile, unsurpassed digital AudioNideo quality that can be reproduced and displayed in many different ways.
The drive-in theater plays an important role in American history and although most are out of commission, audio/video entertainment would not have evolved into the phenomenon it is today without it. Beginning around the late 1950s the drive-in theater, had become a very popular attraction for moviegoers, having an organized parking arrangement, with a parking stall and speaker post for each visiting automobile. Vehicles park facing a platform onto which a giant motion picture image is projected by a dense beam of light, filtered through a roll of film and projected against a white, smooth, flat surface to create a moving image via a motion picture projection device. Positioned in an area adjacent to the projection surface, normally behind the vehicles while the corresponding audio is transmitted through a speaker box via wire, containing a small single speaker system. This box affixes to the automobile's door after retrieval from the speaker post to supply the audio for the cinema feature, or a radio broadcast is transmitted by the theater via AM or FM radio frequency to be received by the patrons automobile radio. Once upon a time, for a long time, drive-ins proved to be a great source of cinema entertainment for millions of people all across America and certainly have played a major role in the shaping of the way we view audio and video entertainment today. However, it now seems that the drive-in theater's reign has passed.
Because of the technological revolution in which we live, our more diverse world demands a continuous quest for efficiency. This is only one of the reasons why the home theater system is responsible for the decline of the drive-in theater. Unlike drive-ins, DVD home theater systems create a surprisingly involving home theater experience. Besides being space- and cost-efficient, these systems are of separate components and are extremely easy to set up and use. A basic DVD home theater system consists of a DVD player/receiver component with Dolby digital decoding, five pre-matched speakers, a subwoofer, and a television. This type of system produces exceptional, top of the line audio/video quality in the home theater entertainment arena. High quality surround sound automobile stereo system creates similar sound dynamics and giant screen video monitors are being manufactured with top of the line video imagery, such that the home theater system no longer had to remain at home.
The drive-in theater, once a very popular attraction for moviegoers, was just that, an attraction for moviegoers and only moviegoers. Even for its time, whether listened to from a speaker box or received over the radio, the audio quality was very poor and did not seem to coincide with the giant motion picture image displayed on the projection surface. Furthermore, the drive-in's movie projection system presented a giant motion picture image but the quality of the images rarely went without criticism, either the image was not in focus, not bright enough, or was jumping in and out of frame. In many cases there was even structural defects within the projection surface.
The DVD home theater system is a great source of home entertainment and will have much success in the years to come. The DVD home theater system creates a surprisingly involving home theater experience. However, it is so enjoyable it tends to confine one to the home, which is said to be unhealthy, and build relationship gaps between the family's home theater fanatic and auto stereo enthusiast.
The drive-in theater, the DVD home theater system and the surround sound automobile stereo system are great inventions of our time, however, neither in and of itself can produce the same effects as the present invention and all lack the qualities and benefits described herein.